The adventures of a novice Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. My life's Mixtape. I'm a USAW weightlifter. I coach. A mobility maven. And I CrossFit.

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The Nursing Career Opportunity

We had a high school student visit our department the other day. She spent a couple hours with us and other areas of interest as part of her ‘job-shadowing’ project.

I never did this as a high school senior, but it seemed like a great way to get a better ‘idea’ of what direction you’d like to take post-high school.

She got to choose what career’s interested her and then visited those areas. She visited different areas of ‘nursing’ on this particular day. She stopped by the medical-surgical unit, the OR and then with us in the PACU.

I guess this project was to help assist the student in their career choices they may or may not make. A down and dirty version of hearing it from the horses mouth.

It was more of a Q & A type visitation. The student asked questions and we provided the best answers we thought would help them. The only problem I saw was the lack of ‘structure’. The student came up with questions that they thought would help them make a better informed or ‘sound’ career decision. Unfortunately, most high school seniors don’t have what I would call ‘a firm grip’ on what ANY workplace environment is truly like. Not that that is a bad thing or a good thing. Just reality.

I mean most students who have worked, worked a part-time job as in the fast-food arena, department store retail, or maybe some office work. In all these scenarios I can’t say they get a good ‘taste’ of what ‘career work’ can and could be.

Most of us these days work for a living, and some of us actually get lucky enough to find the career that we both love and provides for us. A career instead of a ‘job’ -perse’.

So she asked the typical questions:

“What do you love about your job (nursing)?”

“What do you hate about your job?”

“What do you get paid?”

Ya’ know the good, the bad and the ugly questions.

Then the student asked my favorite question, “Why go into nursing?” “Why become a nurse?”

Here was my answer:

Nursing is hands down the single best career choice anyone can make. Aside from the oh-so obvious national nursing shortage that is impacting everyone. And aside from the almost guaranteed-job status for the next decade.(Now remember, I said a guaranteed job, not guaranteeing you’ll get the job you prefer or desire)

Nursing is the only career with unlimited opportunity at almost no cost.

It’s a career where after you attain your license as a Registered Nurse(RN), the sky is the limit. The only thing that will stop you from being happy as a nurse is your will to try and your flexibility to change.

As an RN you can change jobs, change environments, change responsibilities, basically change your ‘career’ in a sense without having to go back for additional formal schooling.(that you will have to pay for)

Granted, you may have to endure additional on the job training, and even acquire and maintain an additional certification, but you will not have to attain another degree and/or diploma.

This is the key. Most individual fell land-locked once they choose a path. The find out how much they may not like their current job/career, but never change due to the massive amount of time, energy and MONEY it would take to change their job or change their career.

As an RN:

You can work in a physicians’ office – change you mind – and work in the hospital as a staff nurse

You can work as a med-surg nurse – change your mind- and work in the critical care area

Interested in dialysis? All you need to do is apply.

How about surgery? Apply

The list is endless.

Now I am down-sizing the supply and demand shift here just a little. In order to move into another are of nursing, especially a specialty area (critical care, emergency, surgery) you will need to have a certain amount of experience. Some areas of nursing have definitive requirement due to the nature of the work you would be doing.

As an RN you also have room to grow and room to further your education and training. And this means more than just attaining your Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate in the nursing field.

The longer you practice medicine, the more “land locked” you become. In fact, the best that we specialist docs can hope for is to become a world expert in some small area of medicine. I dislike that about my career choice – which is probably why I’m not doing full time clinical work. If you’re creative and love change, being a doctor isn’t the best choice. :)

The longer you practice medicine, the more “land locked” you become. In fact, the best that we specialist docs can hope for is to become a world expert in some small area of medicine. I dislike that about my career choice – which is probably why I’m not doing full time clinical work. If you’re creative and love change, being a doctor isn’t the best choice. :)

Great post. Like Victoria, I’ve re-invented my career more than a few times. I’ve worked in neuro ICU, trauma ICU, open heart ICU/recovery, PACU, Pre-Op, OR, long-term care, risk management, and these days, as a Director of Nursing. I’ve loved every minute of my career, and am so grateful that I was able to shift gears when I started burning out. I’ve been asked to take a regional consultant position, but don’t want the multiple building headaches, so I’ll just hang here for the forseeable future, and continue to love my job!

Great post. Like Victoria, I’ve re-invented my career more than a few times. I’ve worked in neuro ICU, trauma ICU, open heart ICU/recovery, PACU, Pre-Op, OR, long-term care, risk management, and these days, as a Director of Nursing. I’ve loved every minute of my career, and am so grateful that I was able to shift gears when I started burning out. I’ve been asked to take a regional consultant position, but don’t want the multiple building headaches, so I’ll just hang here for the forseeable future, and continue to love my job!

Great post. When I was considering my career, I talked to my father who had been a machinist at ALCOA for 33+ years. I asked him how he could go into the same location and do the same thing day in and day out. He said, “I never said I loved it.” I decided right then and there I would go to nursing school. I explained to him that I could be a nurse in an office, a hospital, a school, in a home, a foreign country, etc and still be a nurse. I have done just that. I worked in a hospital, a clinic, sold medical equipment, managed a large orthopedic clinic, worked from home as a contractor for a case management firm, and now I work for myself providing medical and legal consulting. It is the single greatest career field!

Great post. When I was considering my career, I talked to my father who had been a machinist at ALCOA for 33+ years. I asked him how he could go into the same location and do the same thing day in and day out. He said, “I never said I loved it.” I decided right then and there I would go to nursing school. I explained to him that I could be a nurse in an office, a hospital, a school, in a home, a foreign country, etc and still be a nurse. I have done just that. I worked in a hospital, a clinic, sold medical equipment, managed a large orthopedic clinic, worked from home as a contractor for a case management firm, and now I work for myself providing medical and legal consulting. It is the single greatest career field!